


You're My Brother, Dean Winchester

by spnfanatic



Series: Werewolves and the Winchesters [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, BAMF Dean Winchester, Gen, Sam Winchester POV, Series, Set in Season 1, Short Story, WIP series, Werewolves, canon violence, case fiction, post episode "Faith"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22013890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spnfanatic/pseuds/spnfanatic
Summary: Set in season 1, after “Faith”. Sam will do anything for his big brother. Anything. One particular case puts their brotherly bond to the test when Dean goes missing for a week.
Series: Werewolves and the Winchesters [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1584547
Kudos: 7





	You're My Brother, Dean Winchester

“Ready to order now, boys?”

Sam almost jumped as their waitress came back. He looked up with a sheepish smile, ignored the cocky grin he was sure was on Dean’s face at Sam’s reaction. There had been a lot on Sam’s mind lately. “Yeah, sure,” he said and looked down at his menu. “I’ll have a small fries and a vanilla shake.”

“Sure thing. And for you, sweetheart?” The waitress looked Dean up and down with a smile.

“I’ll take a double cheese burger, hold the lettuce, and uh extra onions, if you could.”

“Coming right up.” The waitress wrote down their orders and walked away. Sam watched Dean eye her appreciatively.

“She’s kinda hot for a MILF, huh, Sammy?”

Sam shook his head, already getting used to Dean’s antics. It has only been a few months since he got back on the road with his brother. He was surprised by how much he secretly missed this, missed his brother. He tried not to let it show though, instead looking slightly disgusted at what his brother said. “Really, Dean? Stop being gross.”

From the look his brother shot him, it was obvious he had failed to hide it. Sam always did wear his heart on his sleeve. Dean just grinned and said, “Hey. Whoa. Is it so wrong of me to show some appreciation for the female body, little brother?”

Sam just rolled his eyes. “Whatever.” He relaxed back in his seat and looked around the diner. They were on a case. People were going missing and bodies were found floating in a river by the edge of town. Each one missing a heart. Sam and Dean suspected it was more likely a werewolf. It made sense. The bodies had been weeks old, coinciding with when the full moon had occurred. 

They just needed to figure out who the werewolf was. Which was harder said than done. The waitress brought their orders twenty minutes later. Sam took a bite of his salad, watched as Dean took a large bite of his burger. 

“That all you’re gonna eat, Sammy?” Dean asked after he swallowed another large bite. He put his burger down and looked at his brother with concern.

Sam shrugged, and stabbed at his salad. “I’m not as hungry, I guess.” He was still thinking about how easy it seemed to get back into the hunting lifestyle with Dean. It was like he never left at all. He thought about Jess briefly and suddenly felt queasy. 

“You’re still getting nightmares?” Dean asked suddenly. It sounded almost like an accusation and Sam had to look up at that. Dean was staring back with so much concern it almost hurt. He watched as his brother’s hand came up to unconsciously rest at where his heart was.

“A little,” Sam mumbled. He put his fork down, not hungry anymore. Of course Dean was still concerned about Sam even after nearly dying a couple weeks ago. “Look, Dean, I appreciate the concern and all, but we should probably get back to the case.”

Dean gave him a look that Sam knew too well. The one that said Dean would let it slide for now, but don’t think it’s over just yet. “Ok. We’ll talk about it later then,” Dean said, then took another bite of his burger and looked down at their notes. “So what do we have so far? Any ideas on what’s connecting the victims?”

Sam sighed in relief and focused on the folder spread out on the table. “Let’s see. Besides all of them having their hearts missing? So we know of at least three victims, each one found after a full moon. One is male and two are female. There’s Kevin Brown. Cacausian, 6’4, 28 years old. Healthy. Uh, he is - was, sorry - a P.E. teacher and uh, liked to run at night.”

Dean took one of Sam’s notes and read, “Looks like one of the other victims was named Molly Wilson. She was found dead with her heart ripped out after Kevin in the same river. Ya know, our werewolf doesn’t seem to be very good at hiding its food, or it doesn’t care.” He looked thoughtful. “Seems kinda inexperienced, don’t you think, Sam? All these victims were found in the same spot and check this out, they’re all runners.”

Why didn’t Sam think of that? “Maybe, uh, maybe our werewolf’s a kid,” Sam said after a moment. 

Dean shook his head. “A kid taking down a guy about as tall as you, Sasquatch?”

“Dean, it’s a werewolf,” Sam argued. “Werewolves are much stronger, faster than humans.”

Sam thought back to when they looked at Kevin’s body in the morgue. It had been messier than the last two victims, like the werewolf hadn’t been in control. Its appetite too large, intense. The body was almost unrecognizable. Kevin’s stomach had been torn to shreds. The other two victims had been missing hearts as well but that was all that had been missing.

Dean shrugged as he considered it. “What if it’s more than one werewolf?”

Sam opened his mouth to argue but Dean cut him off, “Hear me out. Werewolves are turned right? So if it is a kid, there’s probably a mentor somewhere. A werewolf that turned him or her.”

It was plausible. Especially from the looks of Kevin’s body. That had been pure destruction. Sam nodded, “I guess that makes sense.”

Dean finished the rest of his burger and handed back the notes. “So now that we’ve got some of the smaller details figured out, you think we can find the kid before the next full moon?”

Sam looked over all their information again. His eyes widened when he compared the victims again. He couldn’t believe how they missed this. Dean watched Sam closely, “What?”

“Dean, they all have another thing in common. Kevin’s a P.E. teacher at the Thomas-Anderson High School. Molly was a substitute teacher. And Katie Richardson is a parent and if I’m right,” Sam said, opening his laptop, “She’s probably got a kid that goes to that school.” He typed her name in and after a few minutes of searching found that he was right. He turned the laptop around for Dean to see.

“Well I’ll be damned. The kid’s a Matthew Richardson. 16 years old, sophomore and just transferred,” He shivered. “Man you can find so much stuff on yourself just googling. It’s kind of scary.”

Sam snorted and turned his laptop back. “When we talked to the victims’ families yesterday, they seemed kind of tight lipped, didn’t they?” 

Dean thought back and pursed his lips. “Kind of, yeah. Hey, Sammy, do you think this case seems a little too...I dunno, easy to you?”

Sam shut his laptop down and began to put away their notes. “What are you talking about, Dean? If it’s an inexperienced werewolf like we think, don’t you think it would be straight forward?” Sam sighed, wondering why Dean was looking a gift horse in the mouth. “Don’t we deserve an easy case every so often?”

Dean shrugged. “Uh, I don’t know. I guess? You think it’s a kid at the school, huh?”

“It fits, right? Molly was a substitute there the week she went missing. And Katie’s kid goes to that school. The werewolf has to be connected to Matthew somehow. Why else kill his mom and leave him alive?”

“I mean the kid probably doesn’t have control over who they kill. Either way, guess we got a solid lead.” Dean stood up and took out his wallet and paid for the meal.  
It was a straightforward case. They talked with some of the people at the school. The principal, some of Matthew’s teachers and classmates, people who knew Kevin and Molly, and then Matthew himself. They had an idea of who may be next.

Sam was relieved as he had a lot on his mind. The nightmares he had about Jess had been more frequent. To add onto that, Dean had also been making appearances in his dreams too. Except they were bad dreams, more like nightmares, where Dean kept dying from his heart attack. Where Sam couldn’t save Dean. Sam was too late. Each. Time. Dean died in his arms, Dean died in a hospital bed, Dean died before coming to Stanford and Sam received a call from Dad, Dean died burning on the ceiling, Dean died over and over in different ways and each time, Sam was too late.

It was on the fourth night they stayed in this town that Sam woke up screaming, Dean’s concerned face hovering above him. “Sammy, you’re OK,” Dean said, his hand on Sam’s sweaty forehead. Dean had pulled up a chair and he looked tired, like he hadn’t slept. He looked worried and a little scared.

Sam didn’t want to talk about it though. Not yet at least. He was content with staying in his brother’s arms. He just wanted to catch the werewolf and kill it. They were waiting for the next full moon to catch both werewolves.

“You ready, Sammy?” Dean asked the next day.

Sam made a face. “It’s Sam.”

“Whatever,” Dean said, waving away Sam’s correction.

“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Sam said.

Dean nodded. He still looked tense. “I still have a bad feeling about this.”

Sam never liked it when his brother looked worried. “You sound like me,” Sam teased. When his brother just stared at him, he added, “It’ll be fine, Dean.”

“Sure hope so,” Dean said. 

“We’re hunting things and saving people. Of course it will be,” Sam replied.

Dean just smiled, remembering how many times he said that to Sam. It was only fitting Sam would say it right back. “Yeah, yeah.”

They were right that Matthew was next on the list. He was on the track team and liked to run in the park. It turned out to be one of his classmates. Timothy ‘Timmy’ Hayes. A scrawny kid who sat in the back who was jealous of Matthew. He got bitten by another classmate almost half a year ago and was still trying to control his newfound hunger. Sam was surprised Timmy’s mentor was just another kid, an older kid - almost 18, but still a kid.

Dean didn’t seem surprised and kept his gun trained on the two kids. “OK, _teen wolves_ , stay right where you are. You aren’t gonna eat your classmate!”

Sam was in front of Matthew, acting like a shield. He also had a gun pointed on the kids. Matthew for his part looked bewildered. Sam and Dean had tailed Matthew after finding out his schedule and knew he was in the middle of his run when the two werewolves jumped out. There were still parts of Timmy that Matthew must have recognized because he didn’t immediately try to run at first. His hands turned to sharp claws and mouth opened in a snarl to show off new, large fangs. But he still kept his messy, dark hair and large green eyes and freckles.

“Timmy?” Matthew had been too shocked to get up.

Sam and Dean took that as their cue to come out as well and position themselves protectively in front of the kid. Sam knew Dean had a soft spot for kids. His eyes narrowed as he trained his gun on the werewolves. Sam also knew Dean’s hatred for monsters. He could tell from the slight tremble in the way Dean was holding the gun that Dean was battling with himself to do the right thing, whatever that was.

Timmy took a step forward and that was the wrong move. Dean shot a warning past the teen’s shoulder. The bullet whizzed into a nearby tree. The kid didn’t even flinch, but he didn’t move either. “Move again and you’re dead, kid,” Dean said.

Timmy wasn’t all there though, he was giving in to primal instinct. It was a nice, clear night and the full moon shone beautifully in the sky overhead. Sam gritted his teeth, eyes darting back to Matthew. He was scared, really scared but didn’t dare to move. “Maybe we can talk to them, Dean,” Sam whispered.

Dean shook his head, looked at Sam skeptically, “What is it with you and talking with monsters, Sammy?”

Sam pursed his lips, was about to say something, when Timmy out of nowhere slammed himself into his brother. “Dean!” Sam shot without thinking and Timmy crumpled to the ground.

“Shit!” Dean pushed the kid off him and Sam dove to brother’s side, forgetting about the other werewolf momentarily. “Sam, behind you!”

Sam turned too late and was slammed to the ground. His head hurt and he tried to get up but something kicked him at the side and he heard his brother swearing loudly this time. The last thing he heard before lights out was his brother saying, “Crap. We were wrong. There’s more than two of them…”

Sam woke up a few hours later back in their motel room. Sam opened his eyes, wondering if the werewolf fight had been just a dream. He got up and almost immediately regretted it with the pounding in his head. He stumbled forward, gripping the edge of the bed for balance. It felt like he rammed his head against a wall...or a werewolf. Shit, he thought as he looked over to the other bed, Dean’s bed. It was empty.

Sam only had a moment to wonder how he got back to the motel when a knock at the door startled him. Sam opened the door to find the manager looking at him with concern. “Are you OK, sir?”

Sam sighed, “Uh, yeah, sorry. Late night.”

“I’ll bet,” the manager raised an eyebrow. “You were brought back by a good Samaritan late last night.”

“Do you have a name?” Sam asked.

The man shook his head. “I’m afraid he didn’t say.”

“Uh, was he tall - almost as tall as me, blond hair, military cut?” Sam asked, then at the manager’s confused expressed, added, “My partner that I checked in with almost a week ago?”

“Afraid not,” the manager said. “He was tall but he had dark hair, almost black. He seemed like he was in a hurry.”

“Oh, Ok, well thanks,” Sam said, slightly disappointed and perplexed by the new information. “Well I’m fine, I guess. If you see him again, could you thank him for me?”

“Of course,” the manager said, still awkwardly lingering by the doorway.

“And I’d like to extend my stay in this room for another two weeks,” Sam said, grabbing his wallet out. The manager nodded and Sam followed him out to take care of the extension.

He had to find Dean. He didn’t want to dwell on the fact that his brother had been right. The case had been too easy and Dean had been kidnapped. Sam wondered if that had been the intention the whole time. If it was a trap set up for the Winchesters, Sam had to look at the case from a different angle now.

Who would want to target the Winchester brothers? Sam could think of a lot of monsters actually. He sighed and got to work.

Dean woke up with a pounding headache. He couldn’t believe how stupid he had been, let his guard down too easily. Both he and Sam actually. It was always the kids that got them. Their Achilles heel, or at least Dean Winchester’s. Dean shivered from the cold and tried to move his hands. He couldn’t because of course he was tied to a stupid chair. He looked down and noticed his jacket had been taken. He was just in a plain white tee shirt. No wonder he was cold. He still had on his jeans though. That was a relief.

But the mother fuckers also took his shoes and socks. His ankles were tied to the legs of the chair. They also took his gun and knives and lock picks. They took anything that he could use as weapons. Great, he thought. How the hell was he supposed to get out now?

Dean wanted to punch that kid in the face. And the other two morons who had been hiding until the last moment. He looked around and didn’t see Sam anywhere. Dean sighed in relief. At least one of them was out. Knowing Sam, he was going to be working the case to find Dean. Dean just had to hold on until his brother came to rescue him. He could do that.

The door creaked open and Dean thought to himself, _it’s showtime_. He grinned at his captors showing teeth, “Well howdy, boys.”

It took Sam a week before he tracked Dean down to an old, rickety cabin out in the outskirts of town. It was far enough from town that it made sense it could be used as a monster hideout of sorts. He opened the door and found the place almost empty. Sam found Dean’s leather jacket on an old crappy looking chair. He picked it up, knowing Dean would ever leave it was if he was forced to. It meant too much. Belonged to Dad. And now Dean.

There was old stained blood on the floor, on the chair, and some on the walls. Sam wanted to get out of here but another part was sure Dean was still here. He walked around some more. The rest of the cabin seemed abandoned, like no one had lived here in months at least. Sam tried to ignore the uneasy feeling he had since he stepped foot here. Dean wasn’t anywhere to be found. He walked back out and looked around the cabin some more.

He was sure - or knew - Dean was close. He wasn’t sure how he knew, he just did. Sam stumbled forward, the ground seemed to be sliding under his feet. He looked down and saw the ground had slanted downwards and noticed something sticking out by his feet. He almost didn’t see the trap door underneath him, it looked like someone had tried to cover it up but did a half-ass job. He crouched down, scraped as much dirt off as he could and opened the latch.

A ladder led down into darkness. Sam’s sixth sense seemed to come to life. Dean was here, down here. He just had to go down and he’d find him and then they could put this case and town behind them for good. Sam gulped and descended slowly into the darkness.

It seemed to go down forever. Really it was probably only a couple minutes. Still it felt like forever. Sam could barely see anything and for a second, he wondered what would happen if someone closed the door and sealed it. Sam would be trapped underground forever. He shook away the thought and landed on solid ground. Thank god.

“Dean?” He called out, wondering if it was a good idea to give himself away so quickly. He didn’t really care at this point. “Dean! I’m here. I came to rescue you, dude!”

Sam wasn’t sure how he missed the smell coming down. It was bad, really bad, as he continued walking down the narrow hall. He almost tripped over the first body. When he looked down, Sam couldn’t help himself. He doubled over, almost vomiting on the body. The body of one of the werewolf kids. The kid who had been there with Timmy. Some nameless classmate. Sam only recognized the body because of the kid’s uniform. What was left of it anyways. Poor kid’s body was torn to shreds. Insides on the outside now. Missing heart of course. Pure destruction.

Sam gulped, trying to shake away the bad feeling. “Dean?” He had to find his brother. They’d reunite and head back on the road and get back to normal. As normal as the Winchesters could get at least. Sam stepped over the body, trying not to slip on the blood and guts. He turned the corner, hand pushing on the wall to steady himself.

He wished he didn’t look. There were more bodies. More blood and guts and organs ripped out. Sam was going to be sick. But still he walked on because he had to find Dean. “Dean, where are you?” It didn’t take long to find Dean. He left a body trail after all.

Dean was sitting in the room at the end. Sam couldn’t see his face. His brother was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing the wall on the other side. His hair was slightly disheveled. Sam could see blood stained on his arms, his jeans, the back of his shirt. He didn’t move even as Sam stepped into the room cautiously. Sam’s heart was thumping rapidly in his chest. He could hear it, feel it. He was scared.

“I can hear your heartbeat, Sammy,” Dean said at last.

Sam didn’t realize the breath he had been holding until his brother said something. He released it, tried to come up with something to say. But it was like he was just frozen in place. Couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t talk.

“They turned me, as you can see,” Dean continued. He still wouldn’t look at Sam.

“You, uh, killed them,” Sam said, finally finding his voice.

Dean let out a chuckle. And it sounded like Dean, like his brother. Sam wanted to go over and hug him so bad. But he couldn’t get his feet to move. “Of course I did, Sammy,” Dean said it casually, like he was talking about the weather. “I had to, ya know? They were monsters and then made me a monster.”

“You ate their hearts,” Sam said it low, just above a whisper.

Dean tilted his head, finally turned and looked at Sam. Sam saw a gash on his brother’s face. Saw blood staining his lips. Dean must have noticed because then he was licking his lips, tasted the blood, smiled. “Maybe I did,” he said softly. Sam almost didn’t hear him.

“Are you going to kill me?” Dean asked, looked pointedly at Sam’s gun looped through his belt. Sam looked startled, hadn’t even thought of it. “I’m a monster now, Sam,” Dean said at Sam’s hesitation. “I haven’t turned fully yet, hasn’t been a full moon, but I can’t control it.”

“It?”

“The hunger,” Dean answered. There was a glint in his eyes. Something dangerous.

Sam tried to squash the fear running through him. Part of him was scared, that was true. But this was his brother. He was invincible, unstoppable. He always had Sam’s back. Dean wouldn’t hurt Sam. He started to walk in, his strides long and with purpose. He wasn’t afraid of Dean and Dean was going to learn, monster or not, Sam was going to do whatever it took to save his brother. He looked over to the other side of the room briefly. There was a table on the other side. Sam looked almost relieved to see the pile of hearts sitting there. Dean had been lying. He didn’t eat the hearts.

He walked over to Dean, just stopping in front of him. Leaned his head against Dean’s and gripped his shoulders and said, “I’m not going to kill you, Dean. You’re not a monster.”

Dean looked at him questioningly. “Did you not see the bodies out there?”

“I did,” Sam said slowly, patiently.

“I did that, Sam,” Dean said. He reached out and gripped his brother’s arms tightly. Sam gritted his teeth, tried not to show how much Dean was hurting him. “ _I did that_.”

“They had it coming, Dean,” Sam said bitterly.

Dean shoved him off him, crossed his arms. “Had it coming?” Dean echoed. “One of them was a kid. A monster maybe but still a _kid_ monster. And sure they were all ass-hole werewolves but I fucking _slaughtered_ them, Sam.”

Sam was just shaking his head. “It doesn’t matter! We were going to shoot them anyways. That’s why we took the case.”

Dean wasn’t looking at him anymore. He stood up. “It’s only a matter of time before I go on a rampage, you know.”

Sam stalked over to his brother, hands clenched into fists. He knew he should be scared of Dean. Any normal person would be. But when it came to his brother it was like Sam’s self preservation had gone out the window. He gripped his brother’s shirt tightly. Why couldn’t Dean see that he was stronger than this? Monster or not, he was Dean fucking Winchester.

“I’m not going to let you,” Sam said fiercely. In that moment he realized it was true. He wasn’t going to let Dean turn into a monster. He was going to save his brother. No matter what it took. “We’ll tie you down, lock you up somewhere on full moons. I don’t care! You’re my brother, Dean. You’re my brother and I love you and I’m gonna save you. And if there isn’t a cure, then maybe you can find a way to control this, this...whatever this is.”

Dean seemed frozen, shock on his face at Sam’s speech. It didn’t help that Sam was still clinging to Dean’s shirt. Wasn’t going to let go no matter what. Sam pulled his brother into a hug and said, “I’m not going to give up on you, Dean. We’re in this together.”

For a long minute Dean didn’t do anything, just stood there, numb. But slowly Sam felt Dean hug him back. And he tried, tried really hard not to feel so relieved. It was a start, right? Maybe they were in this together after all.


End file.
